


but i know it's just the sky

by dorothymcshane



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Tokyo (City)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-31
Updated: 2015-01-31
Packaged: 2018-03-09 21:53:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3265667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dorothymcshane/pseuds/dorothymcshane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU in which Clara and Twelve meet in a hotel bar, inspired by Lost In Translation and the song Million Dollar Man by Lana Del Rey.</p>
            </blockquote>





	but i know it's just the sky

Clara’s standing by one of the panoramic windows in the hotel, watching the lights of the city glitter against the night sky. The singer of the band that’s performing in the hotel bar is belting out a song about broken hearts in the background. As if she can hear the sound of Clara’s heart breaking. As if she can hear her wonder why the hell she agreed to marry Danny.

   “You look lonely,” an unfamiliar Scottish voice says, and when Clara looks up, she notices that an older man has joined her in front of the window. He’s dressed in a crisp black suit that looks expensive, holding a glass of whisky in one of his hands.

   “I’m not,” Clara says, the lie falling off her tongue easily. “I’m just … waiting for somebody.” Somebody who is sitting at the table in the middle of the bar, laughing hysterically at every meaningless word the woman that’s sitting next to him is uttering.

   “I saw you, before,” the man says, his gaze focused on the skyline. “With them.”

   Clara can feel her cheeks burn. “Why are you talking to me? Couldn’t you find somebody else to bother?”

   “Do you want me to leave you alone?”

   Clara considers his question for a moment before she slowly shakes her head, blinking away the tears that are burning behind her eyelids. “I don’t care.”

   “Why are you here?” the man asks her. “In Tokyo?”

   “My husband’s visiting some friends here,” Clara says. “I’ve always wanted to travel, so when he asked me to join him, I couldn’t say no. I’m not so sure anymore, though. About whether I really want to travel the world. I don’t think I’m brave enough. I just feel lost, here.”

   “It’s a huge city,” the man says, with something absent-minded in his dim blue eyes. “Easy to get lost in.”

   “And you? What are you doing here?”

   He grimaces. “Shooting a commercial.”

   Clara turns her gaze towards him, taking a proper look at him for the first time. “You’re not … who I think you are, are you?”

   “I suppose that depends on who you think I am.”

   “So you _are_ the Doctor.”

   “Guilty as charged.”

   Clara finds herself laughing, just because it all feels so surreal.

   “I hate this city,” the Doctor says after a few seconds of silence, tapping his fingertips against the window. “I can’t wait to get back home.”

   “We should escape,” Clara says. “First, we have to get out of this bar, then the hotel, then the city, and then the country.”

   “Sounds like a plan.”

   “I don’t know who I married,” Clara admits to him, staring out at the city skylights in order to avoid his eyes. “It just … it feels like I don’t have anything in common with him, you know?”

   “Yeah.”

   “Anyway, getting a divorce after less than two years together feels ridiculous,” she continues, still without looking at the Doctor. “I suppose we’ll make it work. Somehow. Even though it feels like the worst idea ever, staying with somebody just because it feels like it’s what you should be doing.”

   “You have time to figure it all out.”

   “And you?” she asks him. “Have you figured it all out?”

   He takes a sip of his whisky and then shrugs. “I’m still trying to, I suppose.”

   “You were right, before,” Clara says, twirling her wedding ring.

   “I usually am,” the Doctor says with a Cheshire cat grin. “About what, this time?”

   “I am lonely,” Clara admits.

   “Me, too.”

   “And I can’t sleep.”

   “Me neither.”

   Clara grimaces. “We’re the perfect match, aren’t we?”

   “Quite so.”

   “I work as an English teacher,” Clara finds herself telling him. “That’s how I met Danny. He’s a maths teacher at the same school that I work at.”

   “Do you like it?” the Doctor asks her. “Your job?”

   She takes a few seconds to think about it before opening her mouth again. “I do, yeah. But it’s not as glamorous as being an actor, is it?”

   “It’s not always that glamorous,” he says. “I hate shooting commercials. I would much rather be doing a play, somewhere.”

   “And how much are you getting paid for this commercial?” Clara asks him, a smile playing on her lips.

   A smile tugs at the corners of his lips, as well. “A lot.”

   “Plus, you get a free trip to Tokyo. So I don’t feel too sorry for you.”

   He laughs. “I guess you have a point in that. By the way, I think you should.”

   “Should what?”

   “Travel the world.”

   Clara quietly regards him for a moment. “I hate to say it, but I think you’re probably right, again.”

   “Listen,” he says, “it’s okay to be scared. It’s okay to be fucking terrified. But only as long as you don’t let it stop you from doing what you want to do. And there’s a lot to see, out there.”

   “How long are you here for?” Clara asks him.

   “Until the end of the week.”

   She hesitantly smiles at him. “I guess I’ll see you around, then.”

   “I hope so,” he says, returning her smile before he empties his glass of whisky and crosses the floor towards the bar counter, while Clara walks towards the lifts, the trace of her smile lingering on her lips, her loneliness temporarily forgotten.


End file.
